Golf is a sport that has existed for more than a half of century in almost its present form. It is, however, still one of the faster growing sports, possibly because of all the varied possibilities for exercise, socializing, conducting business, etc. At any rate, a great many players are willing to pay a golf pro to teach them how to improve their game. From study of many players actual in-play motion the professional trainers would agree that substantial practice is necessary to achieve a repeatable swing. Further, the pros have amply demonstrated that positioning the body, positioning the hands, shifting weight and many other interrelated factors may affect just how and where the ball travels after club impact.
The device of this invention is aimed at determining reproducibility of the path of the club upon backswing and downswing to impact the ball and reproducibility of body placement and weight shift. These are accomplished by determining path of movement of the club during a swing and positioning of the feet and shifting of weight during the swing using pressure sensitive pads and a light in the clubhead striking photo sensitive detectors or light sensors. Light emitted from the clubhead impacts light sensors that communicate with a computer and also directly light display lights adjacent to the sensors. When a golf student, with the aid of a pro, achieves a swing that appears right for him, the computer may be set to lock in the swing paths as a pre-chosen path. On the subsequent swings, the computer, which is an integral part of the device, may activate an alarm such as a flashing red light when the swing deviates too much from the pre-chosen paths. This real time swing comparison causes the golfer to interrupt a non-standard or not pre-chosen swing to reinforce his learning of only a standard swing. Note the pre-chosen path would be a standard swing for the individual golfer.
A pressure sensitive pad with multiple sensors and with indicator lights allows the golf student to lock in the computer the chosen foot location. With this unit, the computer may also indicate weight shift. The implicit assumption here is that interrupting or signaling a non-standard swing prevents reinforcing of bad swing habits. Computer analysis of the weight shift, foot placement and clubhead path allow computer "instruction" of the individual golfer.
We have examined the following patents:
______________________________________ U.S. Pat. No. Date Inventor ______________________________________ 4,304,406 12/8/81 J. I. Cromarty 4,254,956 3/10/81 T. L. Rosnak 3,601,408 8/24/71 U. K. Wright 4,327,918 4/4/82 D. B. Foster 4,137,566 1/30/79 S. L. Haas et al 4,858,934 8/22/89 R. B. Ladick et al 4,451,043 5/29/84 Koji Ogawa et al ______________________________________
All of these patents are intended to improve a players golf swing but use a different approach than our present device.